theCHIVE goes to NASA (34 HQ Photos)

As most of you know by now, Neil Armstrong passed away at the age of 82 on Saturday. The first man to walk on the lunar surface inspired generations, including theCHIVERS. theCHIVE is a family run website and we've been fascinated with the cosmos since our father drove us to the outskirts of Ft. Wayne, IN in 1986 to watch Halley's Comet pass earth at its closest apparition.

On Friday, one day before Armstrong's passing, my family and some of our close friends were invited to take a private tour of the Johnson Space Center in Houston by Chiver Scott Chladek. It was amazing to meet so many NASA Chivers. Thanks so much to Scott, Andrew, and Justin for taking the time to show us around. It was an experience we'll never forget...

2

Neil Armstrong was born on Aug. 5, 1930 on his grandfather’s farm in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He earned his flight certificate before he got his driver’s license. Years later, Armstrong would push the envelope of flight in the Mohave Desert, logging over 1,000 hours in some of the most dangerous test planes in the world.

Neil would later be named the commander of Apollo 11. The Mission: The first manned spaceship to land on the moon. In July 1969 the Saturn V, a rocket the size of a football field, was carefully rolled onto a landing pad at the Kennedy Space Center. On July 16th 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off. 235,000 miles later on July 20, 1969 Armstrong’s ‘Giant leap for mankind’ would galvanize the United States and the world. The astronauts left a plaque behind on the lunar surface, “Here men from planet earth first set foot on the moon. We come in peace for all mankind.”

3

4

This is the famous Chamber A, Nasa’s thermal-vacuum test facility. You’ve seen it in every movie from Armageddon to Transformers. Chamber A is able to simulate the conditions found in deep space (save for the anti-gravity, that’s a myth). Chamber A contains mass spectrometers, infrared cameras, and television cameras to monitor the equipment being tested within.

5

6

We were allowed into Chamber A. It was dark and completely surreal.

7

8

9

This is a rare look inside the Chamber, it looks like an empty stage. In some ways it is, and it’s about to play host to something big. More on that later.

10

We took an elevator to the catwalks high above Chamber A.

11

12

Looking down 90 feet…

13

The sense of history in the old Mission Control is almost palpable, there was a lot of smoking in that room and the ceiling and walls are tinged yellow. Mission Control is perfectly preserved. This famous room launched a man into orbit, put a man on the moon, safely returned the astronauts of Apollo 13 to terra firma and they did it will barley enough collective RAM to power a gameboy. This room helped win the cold war and inspired generations of young people to reach for the stars. Ask any kid born in the 80’s and 90’s what they wanted to be and their response was often, “I want to be an astronaut.”

14

15

16

17

This is the X-38 which was to be used as a crew return vehicle for astronauts at the International Space Station in case of medical or catastrophic emergencies.

18

Due to NASA budget cuts, the X-38 project was abandoned near its completion. This is all that remains of the X-38 today. NASA engineers strip it for parts.

19

Welcome to Chamber B, Chamber A’s kid brother. Chamber B is a smaller sphere and it’s human-rated. This is where the astronauts and their space suits are rigorously tested.

20

At the top of the photo is the conveyor that glides the astronauts into the pressurized chamber.

21

22

23

Monitoring the oxygen levels in Chamber B.

24

There is a watch for every mission. The time stands still for the last lost crew member from Columbia

25

Texan Chivette Tiffany Studstill met us at NASA. To preempt the ‘MOAR HER’ comments, Tiffany will be the Chivette of the Week this Thursday.

26

The old space suits weighed around 80 lbs. compared to the current suits which weigh close to 330 lbs.

27

Here is a glimpse at NASA’s new Space Suit being tested. It has a Buzz Lightyear quality to it.

28

We returned to Chamber A to witness something very few people ever see…

29

I got to see the door to Chamber A being opened. And then I was allowed to close it. You should see the videos below.

30

31

32

33

34

As our day at NASA drew to an end I asked Andrew, one of the NASA engineers, if we’ll ever make it to Mars, he responded. “It’s in the core of our human spirit to go. I believe we will. And we’ll do it in our lifetime. But the astronauts that do it will probably have the Google logo on their space suits.”

NASA’s budget has been cut, whittled, and cut again. NASA now lacks some direction, many projects are started only to be abandoned mid-stride, the layoffs at Kennedy Space Center have caused many cities surrounding the launch pad to become ghost towns.

Closing the door on the Space Shuttle also means closing the door on future discovery, technologies, and civilian industries that could see their genesis at NASA. And that’s sad, I think. It’s sad for our generation today but it’s heartbreaking for the dreamers of tomorrow, the generations of potential scientists, mathematicians, and engineers who will lay the foundations for the generations who follow them. What will they dream about I wonder? There is something larger at stake at NASA beyond the now. In a word, it’s progress.

There’s still a sliver of light coming from a door that was once opened wide. Chamber A will soon serve another grand purpose. Scott and his team will drop the temperature in the chamber down to 11 Kelvin ( about -440 degrees Fahrenheit) where it will become the home of the James Webb Telescope for 6 months of testing before it is launched to replace the Hubble telescope. It will see farther into the cosmos than ever before and fill in more blanks about our universe and hopefully, our very existence. Some things at NASA are still very, very alive.